1835.] Island of Rambree on the Arracan Coast. 35 



and earth oil, the produce of Ava and Arracan. The demands of the 

 Burmah Kaeng*, and the numerous exactions, with the expenses of a 

 long and dangerous voyage, were, however, thrown with such severe 

 but necessary weight upon the original prices of the several commodi- 

 ties imported, that none but the rulers of the land would venture to 

 evince a disposition to become possessed of them. 



Property has now become comparatively secure ; a stimulus has 

 been given to industry by the freedom allowed to the exportation of 

 produce ; with an increase of production there will be an augmenta- 

 tion of capital, and the agriculturist may look forward to the attain- 

 ment of those articles of comfort and luxury hitherto denied to him. 

 Still this change for the better will, of necessity, be very gradual. It 

 is as it were a newly discovered land, and as such it will require the 

 united efforts of capital and labour (joined with skill), to bring its re- 

 sources into play. As is well known, the staple produce of the soil is 

 rice. Great quantities of this grain are annually exported to Madras 

 and Penang : the returns being generally made in kind, and consisting 

 chiefly of Madras cloths and Europe muslins, which are either sold 

 in Arracan or retained for importation into Ava. I am not aware 

 that any other article of agricultural produce is exported from Ram- 

 bree. Both cotton and indigo are, however, grown upon the island, 

 the former on the mountain side after it had been cleared of the jun- 

 gle ; tobacco is also produced in the ravines and clefts of the hills, 

 subsequent to the accumulation of alluvial soil deposited therein by 

 means of a dam so constructed, as to oppose its escape with the torrent. 

 But neither of these are produced in such abundance as to permit of 

 a large exportation ; the quantity grown being little more than suffi- 

 cient for consumption in the province. A want of capital, and perhaps 

 a want of confidence in the Government, prohibiting agricultural spe- 

 culation, the production is generally confined to what may be deemed 

 sufficient for domestic purposes, or be grown with the sure prospect 

 of ultimate reward. 



The morning was bitterly cold, and I was glad to dismount from the 

 elephant and walk. Snipe were very numerous on a piece of marshy 

 ground, through which the road lay, and further on, I observed two 

 deer of the same species as the Ratwa deer of Nipal ; I could not 

 give a better description of this animal than referring my readers to 

 the account given of it by Mr. Hodgson along with the drawing, both 

 of which appear in Part 2, vol. xviii, Asiatic Researches. I had before 

 seen one that had been caught in a net, and brought unto me. The 



* Collectors of customs. The duty levied was usually as much as ten per cent. 

 and not unfrequently paid in kind. 

 F 2 



